The best Pokemon GO bonus trick left un-fixed
This month we've got a great opportunity to make use of the best un-fixed trick in Pokemon GO. The trick has to do with what trainers have called "Encounter Stacking", and it fits perfectly with a pair of happenings here in the month of October of 2021. If you've already encountered one Audino with Field Research, don't fret! This still acts as a good example of what's possible with Encounter Stacking in Pokemon GO.
October Community Day
Each month in Pokemon GO, Niantic hosts and event called Community Day. In the month of October, 2021, Niantic's Community Day has a focus on Duskull! That's just about as Halloween-friendly as you can get when it comes to Pokemon that Niantic's not already featured in Halloween events in the past.
Community Day events are great for finding Shiny Pokemon. If (and usually when) Niantic hosts a Community Day, they crank up the spawn rate for the Pokemon they're featuring – AND they crank up the likelihood that said Pokemon will spawn as a Shiny variant.
Community Day is also generally an event during which you get at least one massive bonus multiplier. In the Community Day for October of 2021, the big multiplier is 3x Catch Stardust. Every time you catch ANY Pokemon, you get three times the amount of Stardust you'd normally receive.
Encounter Stacking
October has a Field Research task that delivers Audino as a research encounter reward. As of the publishing of this article, Niantic has a system with which you can "stack" Field Research encounters.
SEE TOO: Shiny Pokemon GO October: all the Halloween 2021 can handle!
A better term would be "queue", since each time you delay a Pokemon encounter, you put it in a line, or a list, which you can address later. This is "not a supported feature", according to Niantic, but they do acknowledge that it works.
Niantic addressed the situation in a November 8, 2018 tweet (from Niantic Support), saying "Stacked encounters is not a supported feature so be sure to claim them [as you earn them]." At that time they recommended claiming all Research Reward Encounters in Pokemon GO before November 11, 2018, since they'd be doing a bit of a reset to make room for new features.
They also suggested that "you'll still be able to save Research Reward Encounters, [but] it's not something we recommend. It can interfere with regular gameplay and cause trouble when the new Special Research is released."
At this time, you can still tap that "Later" button when a Pokemon appears after you complete a bit of research, or you can "run away" from said encounter. That's the move you make by tapping the "run" icon in the upper left-hand corner of your display when you encounter any Pokemon.
Audino and Duskull
Community Day in October of 2021 features 3x catch Stardust. Audino is a beefy Pokemon by itself, so it delivers 2,100 Stardust when captured (without any bonuses or multipliers).
If you use a Star Piece item, you get 50% more Stardust from any Stardust activity. Catch Audino with a Star Piece and you'll get 3150 Stardust. Catch Audino with a Star Piece on Duskull Community Day and you'll get either 9450 or 6300 Stardust, depending on if Niantic decides to stack bonus multipliers!
Pokemon GO Duskull Community Day for October of 2021 takes place October 9, 2021, from 11 AM to 5 PM. That's local time – so 11AM no matter where you are in the world, so long as it is October 9.